Jack White's Third Man Records to Attempt to Play First Record in Space

To celebrate the seventh anniversary of Third Man Records and the label’s 3 millionth record pressed, Jack White has planned an event where the Third Man team will attempt to play the first phonographic record in space, the label announced Monday.

To accomplish the daring feat, Third Man teamed with Kevin Carrico – “who has NASA in his blood,” the label said – to create the Icarus Craft, a custom-built “space proof” turntable capable of spinning a vinyl from a spaceship, or in this case, a high-altitude balloon. The vinyl chosen to set off into the final frontier, appropriately, is a gold-plated 12″ master of Carl Sagan’s Cosmos speech “A Glorious Dawn,” which Third Man previously reissued as a 7″ single in 2009.

SATINS (Students and Teachers in Near Space) will assist Third Man and Carrico in the historic endeavor on the project’s launch date, Saturday, July 30th. To celebrate, Third Man Records plan to host “launch parties” at both its Detroit and Nashville locations, with the parties featuring live bands and DJs, commemorative merchandise, and limited edition 12” gold vinyl copies of “A Glorious Dream” and other exclusive Third Man goodies.

Tickets for the launch party, which guarantees entry into either Third Man’s Detroit or Nashville location as well as a personalized bag stocked with the exclusive merch, go on sale later in the week; keep tuned to the Third Man site for on-sale information. A live-stream of the July 30th launch is also planned.

Third Man also shared a 3D rendering of the Icarus Craft and how it is able to hold and spin a record in low gravity.